Price reportedly up for Cleveland job

Georgia Tech legend Mark Price is scheduled to interview with the Cleveland Cavaliers Tuesday for their head coaching opening, according to multiple reports.

Price was an assistant coach last year with the Charlotte Bobcats and has previously worked as a shooting coach with the Atlanta Hawks, Memphis Grizzlies and Golden State Warriors. Price interviewed for Tech’s job after the 2010-11 season, following Paul Hewitt’s firing, that ultimately went to Brian Gregory.

Price is popular in Cleveland. He played there for the first nine of his 12 seasons and was a four-time All-Star. His No. 25 jersey was retired after his retirement following the 1997-98 season.
At Tech, Price was a three-time All-American and led the Yellow Jackets to their first ACC championship. He is one of six Tech players to have his jersey retired.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Beloved former Cavaliers starMark Price, now an assistant with the Charlotte Hornets, will interview for the Cavs head coaching position on Tuesday, three NBA sources told The Plain Dealer.

With the team's coaching search entering its fourth week since Mike Brown was fired on May 12, Price is believed to be the sixth candidate to formally interview with Cavs general manager David Griffin, joining Bulls assistant Adrian Griffin, Clippers assistant Tyronn Lue and former NBA head coaches Alvin Gentry, Lionel Hollins and Vinny Del Negro.

None of the candidates has met with owner Dan Gilbert, and none has a second interview scheduled as of Monday evening, a source said, though Yahoo reported that Gentry and Lue would be interviewed again. The Associated Press also reported Gentry would have a second interview.

Price, 50, is one of the most popular players to ever play for the Cavs. Acquired from the Dallas Mavericks on draft day in 1986 for a second-round pick and other considerations, Price teamed with center Brad Daugherty during the most successful era in Cavs history until LeBron James arrived.

A four-time All-Star and back-to-back winner of the Long Distance Shootout during the 1993 and 1994 All-Star Games, Price is the Cavs all-time leader in assists (4,206), free-throw percentage (90.6) and 3-point field goals made (802). He had his No. 25 retired in 1999.

A native of Enid, Oklahoma, who played for his father, Denny, Price went on to star at Georgia Tech, where he became known for his shooting ability and his pioneering method of splitting a double team.

Price has an extensive and varied coaching career, ranging from high school to Australia to the NBA, where he has been a shooting coach in Memphis and Atlanta and an assistant coach in Orlando and Golden State before joining Charlotte this season.

Earlier Monday, Yahoo Sports reported that Gilbert had offered Kentucky coach John Calipari a seven-year, $60 million deal to serve as president and coach of the team. ESPN put the numbers at $80 million for 10 years. Calipari turned the offer down and signed a seven-year, $52 million deal with Kentucky.

Cleveland is going to hire whoever they think gives them the best chance to re-sign Kyrie Irving. A secondary reason will be whether they are likely to develop Andrew Wiggins. Maybe they think it is Price but I wouldn't bet on it.

I've never been to an NBA game so I am clinging to hope that it is all a bad imagination done via CGI by a crazed kid in a Korean studio under contract to TNT. Please tell me it is not real, and then let me sleep until very late August.

BTW, it is rumored that there is cabal of toothless guys on blades slapping a badly burnt biscuit around a skating rink. Sadly, I did attend one such event 40 years ago in the Omni so am I resigned to the admittance that such foolishness does exist and continues. But, to my great relief, I understand such carryingon's are about to cease, and the TV ratings are terrible. So, there is yet hope the poor biscuit will finally be left alone.

Price was one of my all time favorite players, but just because you were a great player doesn't mean you will be a grat or even good coach. Since he has been out of the game, he has gained almost no experience as a bench coach and their must be a reason for that.

@TechTroll13 Your 100 percent right, concerning the transition between great player to coach... There is just one way to find out, and that's to give him a chance... We at GT like to experiment with coaches.(see CPJ) I for one like Mark Price, and would have liked to see him coach at GT... You just never know what might have happened.. We certainly could have hired worse..

@DreyP Noodles has just had a different career progression. He worked as an NBA scout for a while and then got an NBA assistant position. He did fairly well in that position and then joined Iowa as an assistant where he did really well. Essentially, he shot up through the ranks as a coach where as Mark Prices career has been a bit slower. Some of that may have just been luck, but Noodles has certainly earned his current position. He had a reputation of a good coach and recruiter at Iowa. Price will have to find a way to break through and get his shot.

@forexbomb CPJ wasn't really an experiment. He was a coach with tons of experience and success at all levels. He was the national coach of the year 4 years before we hired him. That is a little different than hiring a basketball coach who has a few years experience as a shooting coach in the NBA.

@BigCrimson75 Coaching in college isn't the same as coaching in the NBA and I highly doubt that he will get the Cleveland job. If he is such a sought after coach at this point why is he not getting more interviews with the large amount of college teams looking for a coach every year? I love the guy but he needs to work his way up. He is a Tech man, he will figure it out.

@GTBob@forexbomb I'm not going to argue the point of experiment Bob... But we both know that experiment can be argued from both sides..

Mark Price would have been a gamble, but what coach that comes to GT is not a gamble... My points about Price are all valid, his resume is short on coaching experience, but at some point you have to take a chance on a young unknown, as would be the case with Mark Price...

@Gr8_2B_aFuzzyB Kevin Ollie played for Calhoun, and coached under Calhoun before being selected to replace Calhoun. He was essentially already groomed for the UConn job. Mark Price with little experience would have to rebuild the entire coaching staff, rebuild the team, and improve recruiting with virtually no recruiting experience.

If Price had Gregory ' s record at this point, I wouldn't be thrilled but would be willing to give him a couple more years to turn it around. Price played with both poise and emotion. I think he could be an emotional leader as coach. Most important ingredient to any hoops team is a standout point guard that can make plays and makes everyone else better in the process. Until you have those type of players on your team, even the best coach can have trouble winning consistently.

@BigCrimson75 I am not hostile to Price. I'd love to know where I said a single word about him. I'm more interested in why the fascination exists (my opinion is that people always want something else).

@GTBob If they were the AD, they wouldn't last long, either. At some point, if you keep firing people, it would seem to make sense to look at the person doing the hiring.

Fortunately, blogs generally draw the crazies. Ken's sample for his Johnson article a few months ago may not have been representative, but almost 2/3 of the people he surveyed still support Johnson. You wouldn't know it to read these blogs, though.

I suppose it shouldn't George. But as I said above, if Price had success at Tech as a coach, to me that's just a better story. So as long as he doesn't do a total flop in the first 2 or 3 years, I would probably be more patient than I otherwise would be.

Come on Bob. He has succeeded as a player at all levels. I would be very surprised if it didn't happen for him as a coach because he strikes me as an inspirational type of leader. But without good players it doesn't really matter who the coach is. Check that, a really good coach can at least make most teams competitive but you still need special players to be championship caliber. Gregory hasn't really had much to work with so far. Price would bring some excitement early on. Would the program get better? Only time would tell. Losing would not feel any better, but if he were able to get it done, what a great story that would be.

For the record, I'm not really calling for Gregory to be fired. The article is about Price so my point is that I liked him before Gregory was hired and I still do now. It'll probably be a surprise if he gets the job at Cleveland but I'm glad he's getting considered.

@BigCrimson75 Hewitt had losing seasons 3 of his last 4 years and 4 of his last 6 years. He got slaughtered by Kennesaw St. He was losing to UGA. His teams couldn't execute a simple in bounds play. Attendance was in a nose dive. It was time for him to go. He had plenty of time to turn things around. He never did. I supported him up until the last couple of years. Something had to change though.

@BigCrimson75 I don't know that I supported Hewitt's termination, either. He made the tournament the year before.

The problem with Hewitt was that the APR scores were so low that we were in danger of losing scholarships. As for getting to the table with five star players, I don't really care. Have a young, talented team or an older, experienced team. Doesn't matter to me. Just give me competence every year and competitiveness two out of five.

Bob ,I was all in when Hewitt showed so much promise early on. But we've been floundering for what seems like so long now, my interest is waning. The last couple years, I'm often unaware if we're even on a national broadcast. If that makes me less of a man in your eyes, oh well. I won't be losing any sleep over that.

@BigCrimson75 If Mark Price were hired then I would support him 100%. He wouldn't be my first choice though or even in my top 10 really. There are other quality coaches out there with much more experience in running a college program. I would rather make a smart hire than just hire a loved GT legend.

@Gr8_2B_aFuzzyB It doesn't make you less of a man to be unhappy with the current state of the program. I don't think anyone is. We are just arguing that hiring a coach with little experience may not be the best way to turn things around. There will be good coaching candidates out there when and if Gregory is relieved of his duties. Bobinski has a strong basketball background. We will find a quality coach.

@GeorgeStein@forexbomb Come on George.. Our trend for the last 4 years has been down... I guess in 10 years you can say the same thing,,,, However, if the trend continues, we will be lucky to compete with Georgia Southern... or Georgia State for that matter... Jeez..